Microsoft confidently kicked off its E3 press conference by showcasing highly-anticipated gameplay of Activision's latest iteration of highest grossing franchise, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
The gameplay revealed drop-pods with a squad of soldiers right into the heart of what's likely Seoul, South Korea, according to text in the intro. As there's never a good day in a Call of Duty game and things are bound to go wrong, the futuristic squad crash lands several floors in a battered skyscraper, setting up a display of what's likely to be a prominent mechanic in gameplay.
After taking out a few micro air vehicles, MAVs, the squad sizes up a roughly 15-story drop before jumping down and sticking a jet pack-guided landing on the ground floor.
The presenter guides the player character "Mitchell" out onto the streets along the ad-speckled skyscrapers as vertical take-off and landing, VTOL. We can barely imagine the amount of carnage players will experience when donning the mech suits.
Mitchell and his squadmates hurry through a command post for a briefing before navigating through a crevasse of concrete and steel chaos, where a giant robotic spider passes over head. Call of Duty isn't known for its vehicles; however, giving the game-changing sci-fi setting, piloting a spider tank isn't too farfetched.
As if the spider tank wasn't intriguing enough, a creepy swarm of drones darkens the sky and helps invoke feelings of immersion and vulnerability we want from a single player campaign. The swarm could be especially riveting if their hive-mind has some sort of A.I that is rolled out into to the game's multiplayer maps, sort of like an environmental hazard.
We get to see more of the jet packs in use as Mitchell's squad moves into an arena of sorts on the streets, preparing to engage with enemy infantry. The jetpacks seem to serve only a boost to the player's vertical leaps, than an aid to horizontal traversal and parkour.
It wouldn't be a Call of Duty game without a large and varied cache of weaponry. The assault rifle tight fire and sleek build both fit the sci-fi tone, but what appears to be an alternative firemode took it a step further. The player character switch firing modes to a laser fire, which appears to function as futuristic take on a designated marksman rifle.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is tentatively slated for release on Nov. 4. And as packed with futuristic tech as the reveal was, we're likely to see much more before the fall.
